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| Members of Pentagon, Cube Entertainment's new boy band, pose during their debut showcase at Sebitseom in Seocho, southern Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Cube Entertainment |
Former S.M., YG trainees debut in Cube's new boy band
By Kim Jae-heun
Cube Entertainment revealed its latest boy band Pentagon on Monday, four years since the agency introduced its last all-male idol group BTOB in 2012.
The 10-member group includes former S.M Entertainment trainee Jinho and YG Entertainment trainee Hongseok.
"I was an S.M. trainee for six years, but I decided to leave because their plan for my future was different from what I thought," said Jinho during a press conference at Sebitseom in Seocho, southern Seoul. "Then I was approached by the manager at Cube and auditioned for this company."
Hongseok appeared on YG's survival TV show "MIX&MATCH" in 2014 as a candidate member of then newly debuting boy band iKON, but failed to make the cut.
"I stayed behind in YG, but I was afraid I would never debut as I was getting old for an idol," he said. "I left the company to do the music I want to pursue and while meeting with various agencies, the Cube manager said the company is debuting a new boy band so I came here."
The other eight members are named Hui, E'Dawn, Shinwon, Yeo One, Yan An, Yuto, Kino and Wooseok.
The 10 members are not new to the public as they starred on Cube's reality idol survival show "Pentagon Maker" on music cable network Mnet from May to July. Although E'Dawn, Shinwon and Yan An were eliminated during the competition, Cube decided to include them as the members pledged to debut as a 10-member group.
"The original plan of the company did not include all 10 in the debut, but we convinced them that we cannot perform our best if we are not a 10-member band," said Hui.
He said that the band members had a hard time watching their teammates get eliminated during the battle mission but it eventually built a stronger relationship between them.
Pentagon takes its team name from a shape with five sides representing five mandatory elements that K-pop idols pursue ― singing, dancing, teamwork, talent and mindset.
The boy band released their first self-titled mini-album, consisting of seven tracks including the lead single "Gorilla."
The hip-hop song has a grand and strong beat backed by a brass sound with lyrics about man's love in comparison to the primal feelings of a wild beast. Songwriter Seo Ji-eum of Exo's "Growl" wrote the lyrics for the lead single and E'Dawn participated in rap-making.
"We want to take strengths of BTOB's vocal color and BEAST's elegant style of dance performance," said Hui. "We want to be Cube's next boy band to represent the agency, like BTOB and BEAST."
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